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Topic: Itching Mouse (Read 750 times)

So my friend, Willow, has four mice; Tulip, Sunshine, Sif, and Pie. Tulip has this nasty looking spot just under her ear and her ear looks pretty messed up. At first Willow thought if was from a little fight, but now she thinks it's from scratching. Willow's mom thinks the poor little mouse is dying. All the mice stop to itch a lot, but Tulip is the only one with a wound. They eat a seed mix of some sort and have carefresh bedding. After talking a little we think it might be lice or mites. Can you use Revolution on mice? Or do you need to use something else? Willow's sending me some pictures, but they're probably going to be a bit blurry. The mice aren't very socialised with people.

Although it is risky to generalize from one species to another, I would bet that a very small drop of Revolution would be okay for a mouse. Lilspaz recently posted that it is a pretty safe drug, in her experience. Just to be safe, though, you might want to PM her with this question; I know that she has some experience with mice, in addition to her vast experience with rats.

I would get them checked at the vet for mites. We dosed all of ours at the vet with injectable ivermectin. You need to make sure your vet is experienced with mice (or can consult with another vet who is) because you dont want to overdose them. I believe revolution can be used on mice as well, but Im not familiar with doing that myself. With that large of an area affected, and you mention pus, I recommend getting her treated for that as well. She will need antibiotics from a vet We had to give one of ours a tiny drop of antibiotics everyday for a couple weeks. You will probably want to take out the others from the cage and put the antibiotic on a tiny pencil eraser sized treat like bread. Also, mice can be prone to what they refer to as "OCD". I mention this because the cage in the photo looks very small for them and barren of activity for them. Boredom can cause them to scratch their face, eyes, and ears, etc raw and its a hard habit to break. Some mice are more affected by that than others. So if you treat for mites and it seems like it did no good, it may be "OCD". Also, you should always freeze bedding, food, and wood toys before giving them to your mice. This will help kill any mites or lice that like to hide in these items and help prevent an outbreak in the future. Good luck! Poor girl definitely needs to see a vet. I wish you all the best!

The cage is two levels and you only see the top level. Their wheel is on the lower level and someone is pretty much always on it. This is my friend's mouse and her mother might not be willing to take the little mouse to the vet(she wasn't willing to take a 13 year old cat to the vet and the cat ended up dying of an abscess no one noticed). Willow is willing to do everything she can to help the mice, but wait she can do is limited to what her mother is willing to pay for.